On an up tick Pete Buttgig surge gives new meaning to coming from behind

Using as a theme song from the Village People, In the Navy, Pete Bittigieg goes from worst to first driving the field from behind.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Earlier this week, Pete Buttigieg traveled more than 100 miles through the Granite State on a bus emblazoned with his name and packed with over a dozen journalists. It’s a spectacle that hasn’t been seen in recent presidential races, but it’s part of a freewheeling strategy that has helped bring Buttigieg from relative obscurity to the top of the Democratic primary field.

As the bus headed toward Buttigieg’s third event of the day in Rochester, N.H., on Monday, news broke that a Quinnipiac University poll was showing the South Bend, Ind., mayor in third place in the state, just 1 percentage point behind Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. It was the latest sign Buttigieg has emerged as one of four frontrunners in the packed Democratic primary field along with Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Vice President Joe Biden.